Mitzvah , "commandment"; plural, mitzvot; ( tzavah, "command") is a word used in Judaism to refer to (a) the commandments, of which there are 613, given in the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) or (b) any Jewish law at all. The term can also refer to the fulfilment of a mitzvah as defined above. The term mitzvah has also come to express any act of human kindness, such as comming to the aid of an unknown person. According to the teachings of Judaism, all moral laws are, or are derived from, divine commandments. Rabbis are divided between those who seek the purpose of the mitzvot and those who do not question them. The latter argue that, if the reason for each mitzvah could be determined, people might try to achieve what they see as the purpose of the mitzvah, without actually performing the mitzvah itself.

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